Sunday, October 6, 2013

How is this possible?!

Hello everyone!

I'm at the gym right now. Typing away this blog post while cycling on the bike.

As you all know, I love being able to go to the gym. My stress fracture has healed at least well enough that I can walk without crutches. So I just left them in Baltimore to not have to see them again before next year.

In the weeks before I flew to Baltimore, I went to the gym mainly to work on my core strength. I would always go on the bike for a bit and then do a long (= long for me) set of muscle work. While I was in the U.S., I went to the gym on campus and started getting into cardio work again. Along with the healing of my knee, I also want to start getting back into cardio/ endurance exercises.

I absolutely love the cardio setting where you can use the heart rate sensors on the bike (treadmill, elliptical, or stair master) to keep an eye on how your pulse is doing and not to overdo it. Training in a specific heart rate range is a beautiful thing. Especially if you want to gain endurance. I think I went to the campus gym almost every day while I was there and noticed how well I started feeling after the workouts.

Now I'm back in Berlin and excited to be at my gym again. It's much newer than the gym at my school and - while cheap - it offers quite a range of machines and training opportunities.

You will understand my shock when I wanted to get back into my beloved heart rate training plan, which I had begun in Baltimore: at my gym, there are no sensors on any of the machines. None.

Not one single cardio machine has one. Not even the bikes. How is this possible?!

I have owned a treadmill before. I bought it about 10 years ago. Even that one had sensors on the handles.

The bikes all have cardio programs but how am I supposed to use them, if there is no way for me to track what my heart is actually doing?

What do I do now? I know, I could buy a watch that will allow me to monitor my heart rate, but I really don't want to spend that money. Maybe in ten years, when I have a job, I will invest in a Garmin, but for now, this is out of the question. Instead, I will just have to suck it up in silence and miss the outdated, but yet much better equipped gym at my school until next August.

I know, I am complaining on a high level. Believe me, I'm happy that I get to go to a gym at all. It just really hit me, because I never expected that this basic training option could be unavailable at a gym. Especially given the fact that it can not only be a lot safer, but also very efficient for your training to keep an eye on your heart rate.

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This is me

Hello and welcome to Stina On The Move! My name is Christina and I am an aspiring runner, who just moved to Berlin.
Originally, I am from Germany, but I met my husband in the US, where we lived in Maryland for a few years. Life has taken us to several places and we love to explore everything close and far from us. We have a dog, Lucy, who moved with us and is keeping us company.
My blog is about running, food, living in a new place, and randomness along the way.
I am always happy to meet new people, so feel free to email me!